The present invention relates to a sheet supplying apparatus for supplying sheets to a sheet feed portion and, more particularly, to a sheet supplying apparatus mounted on a copying machine so as to feed a sheet to a transfer portion in the copying machine.
A conventional sheet supplying apparatus has a paper cassette. Sheets set in the paper cassette are taken up one by one, and each sheet is fed to register rollers. The leading end of the sheet abuts against and is aligned by the register rollers. When the sheet is fed to a transfer portion of a photosensitive drum upon rotation of the register rollers, a toner image is transferred to the sheet.
In the conventional sheet supplying apparatus, the paper feed rollers are mounted on a rotating shaft through a one-way clutch. When the sheet is fed upon rotation of the register rollers, the paper feed rollers are engaged with the sheet and is driven thereby. In this manner, the sheet is pulled between the register rollers and the paper feed rollers, so a load is imposed on the register rollers. As a result, the sheet may slip and will not be properly fed.